Truck driver recovers from burns

This is an undated handout photo of Keith Mahabirsingh, the truck driver burned last week when tire blew and he crashed into guardrail and truck burst into flames. He has had several surgeries and his wife says he is recovering.

Published: Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 6:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 6:09 p.m.

An Ocala man severely burned late last week when his truck caught fire after crashing into a guard rail on Interstate 75 has had the first of what may be several surgeries and is improving, according to his wife.

This is an undated handout photo of Keith Mahabirsingh, the truck driver burned last week when tire blew and he crashed into guardrail and truck burst into flames. He has had several surgeries and his wife says he is recovering.

Lydia Mahabirsingh said her husband, Keith, had 5½ hours of surgery for his first skin graft for his back and legs on Wednesday.

Since the accident on June 20, doctors have been cleaning soot from his lungs twice a day. For the time being, Mahabirsingh is on a ventilator to help with breathing.

Slowly recovering, Mahabirsingh is displaying the same determination and fight he showed those who rescued him.

"His body is rising to the challenge. All of his organs are working just fine, and he's fighting," Lydia Mahabirsingh said.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers said the 2006 Peterbilt truck driven by Mahabirsingh was heading south on I-75 a few miles south of State Road 200 when a tire blew out. The truck slammed into the guard rail, overturned on the driver's side and burst into flames.

Motorists stopped, busted out the windows of the truck and pulled Mahabirsingh out. He had burns over approximately 50 percent of his body.

He was taken to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville for treatment.

Delsie Paulson, a representative of Brady Construction of Ocala Inc., said Mahabirsingh was on his way to Oxford Church of God to drop off lime rock when the accident occurred.

Paulson said the company, where Mahabirsingh has worked for about eight years, has received numerous phone calls inquiring about Mahabirsingh's health.

Mahabirsingh's rescuers — Kevin Allis, Ray Johnson, Dale Graham and several others who in the vicinity — did everything they could to free Mahabirsingh from the burning truck.

Allis calls the group "The Miracle Team."

They hurled rocks, boards, fire extinguishers, a metal pole — anything they could grab — onto the truck's front windshield in a desperate attempt at saving him. Mahabirsingh, who the rescuers said never cried out, managed to push himself out and the men dragged him to safety, despite the intense heat coming from the mangled truck.

Other rescuers stopped traffic and cleared a path for Mahabirsingh.

In an email, Judy Servidio, a nurse, detailed her experience. She said Mahabirsingh had to be moved twice to avoid the truck's explosion. She had an emergency bag with her, and her immediate concern was to clear his airway because she had observed inhalation burns.

With his head in her lap, Servidio sought to "gain his trust and attention." She also helped him "calm down and breathe slow, steady breaths to conserve his oxygen supply."

Mahabirsingh went into shock as the paramedics arrived. Servidio told him to remember "he was alive," and "he would be challenged in the coming days."

"This man wanted first to know if anyone else was hurt … selfless, considering he was fighting for his own life," Servidio said.

Lydia Mahabirsingh concedes her husband does have "a long fight ahead of him," but said he's "up to the challenge."

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